Un Bal

Dances are among the valuable "raw materials" that composers of all epochs have incorporated into their works. The suites of the Baroque period are based on dance forms from various countries, the classical symphonies usually contained a minuet or dance movement, and composers of emerging musical nations in the 19th century made use not only of folk songs but also, and above all, of the dances of their home regions in order to form an independent language. In this album, harpist Sarah Christ shows that dance is as rich in moods as it is in forms: On her album Un bal - named after the second movement of Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique - we hear the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, which moves so wonderfully freely within the framework of strict baroque models, the melancholy elegance in Chopin's and Debussy's waltzes, the folklore and rusticity in the pieces of Ferenc Farkas and Manuel de Falla, and the melancholy of Astor Piazzolla's tangos.